Healthcare Professional Communication

The Importance of Professional Communication within the Healthcare Team

The healthcare team is a very important group of people that work together to maximize the best patient care possible. Physicians, nurses, councilors, physiotherapists, and various others make up the healthcare team. The patient and their family also play a role in the healthcare team as they try their best to work towards a successful patient outcome. Professional communication between every member makes a huge impact on ensuring that the healthcare team is working productively and efficiently. Without proper communication, a patient’s life could be at stake. In this paper, flaws in nurse-physician communication is focused on. The nurse and physician play a key role in

Gender can also be a factor that creates tension between nurses and physicians. Females prefer in-depth discussions, while males tend to prefer clear, fast, and fact-based communication (McCaffrey et al., 2011, as cited in Flicek, 2012). Female nurses may also be more intimidated by male doctors as opposed to female doctors. According to Eggertson (2012), female nurses were more likely to go along with errors made by a male doctor, or only make gentle suggestions towards them. With female doctors, nurses were more collegial but also more critical. It is an odd concept to think that in current times a nurse would not undermine the authority of a male physician, but they would if the physician was female. Even though communication may be tough and intimidating at times, all nurses must be willing to speak up about potential

The hospital should ensure that the consequences of any disruptive behavior are transparent and hold open discussions for all team members about the effect of difficult relationships (Eggertson, 2012). The only way to end unprofessional communication is to learn from past mistakes and move forward in a way that promotes self-awareness and solutions to the issue. The nurse’s role in the healthcare team is to advocate for the client and to ensure that they are getting proper care. Indicator 3.5 of Ethical Practices in CARNA (2013) states, “the nurse advocates for and contributes to establishing practice environments that have the organizational and human support systems, and the resource allocations necessary for safe, competent and ethical nursing care” (p. 6). To ensure that this standard is properly met, professional communication must be